How Senators work

Watching the McCain and Kerry tempests today, i think a lot of people don't get that these guys are actually really good politicians, with long experience in the Senate, and they're playing not for the now, but for the future...

Why is McCain embracing Bush (in every sense of the word) when he has every reason to hate Bush's guts? Control over the Senate GOP, that's why. Because McCain is so widely respected, if he publicly distances himself from Bush, then the right wing can and will blame him for Bush's loss. And if Bush wins, he'll get punished. But if he actively campaigns for Bush, then Bush's loss is clearly not McCain's fault.  And if Bush goes down hard, then McCain has an excuse for a coup against Bush's puppet Frist... and suddenly, McCain is Senate Minority Leader (i'm assuming a Democratic Senate here)

A stickier problem is Kerry's tap-dancing around Bush's Iraq challenge. That has pissed a lot of Democrats off, especially the old-school anti-war types (myself included). You know what i think?  I think Kerry's lying through his teeth. Why? Because if he says that he would have voted differently, then Bush gets to call him a flip-flopping pinko peacenik.

By letting it go, Kerry takes a tactical loss but a strategic win. He's taken away Bush's ability to call him soft on Iraq. Now Kerry can turn on Bush and say it wasn't the war itself that was a bad idea - it was how the war was done, with inadequate force, bad diplomacy, poor planning, and no exit strategy. Kerry can look nuanced WITHOUT looking like a flip-flopper.

Of course, this hurts Kerry's left flank. But ABB is so strong, he can afford some damage there. It doesn't look like Nader will be much of a factor, and even the most liberal among us will bite our tongues and vote Kerry, because we know for damned sure there's a difference now. What Kerry needs is the middle - that 25-30% of voters who thought the Iraq war was a great idea back around Mission Accomplished time, but have turned against it now. Saying Bush conducted the war badly is the most conservative possible anti-war position.  Saying we were misled is stronger, and saying it was stupid from the get-go is stronger still, but Kerry gets to grab the biggest chunk of the middle this way.

Yeah, this sucks. This hurts. But at this point, i trust Kerry to know what he's doing with the campaign. He had to swallow a big ol' lump of shit to say that, but i can see why he did. And being willing to eat shit to beat Bush is just one more way he impresses me.

Same with McCain. If in January 2005, we get President Kerry and Senate Minority Leader McCain, America will be a lot better off, and the damned bully who's doing this to them will be sulking on his dude ranch in Crawford.